Many people find the Christmas New Year period the only time they get to read newspapers in any detail. It is also the period when the most predictable stories and the odd beat up get published.

But it’s also a good time to reflect on some wisdom about the stories you read.

The blog’s friend, Tony Jaques sent the first snippet to prompt this thought – and one which demonstrates that not only is the Murdoch media biased but also badly in need of spending some money on competent sub editors rather than propagandists.

Indeed, an organisation which is constantly campaigning about wokeness and slipping educational standards caused by progressive teaching methods ought to have a long look at its own grammar and journalistic standards.

Tony said that in “a single story on news.com this morning, about prospects for housing prices, had three separate sentences which desperately needed the hand of a sub-editor.  Do they still have such people?”

The story said (with appropriate emphases added) the following:

“At this point, housing supply remains extremely low and many people that would be new home buyers are being pushed into the established market,” she said.

“We’ve seen a lot of outer suburbs, where there was an abundance of new mortgages taken out in one foul swoop, those markets are going to be in some strife because a lot of these people are starting to break,” he said.

Mr Lardner said he has seen a lot less investors reaching out for his assistance this year, and he doesn’t see that changing in the new year.

Tony, who has also been reading the books by Dr John Thorndyke (R. Austin Freeman) from the Golden Era of crime fiction, also mentioned coming across the author’s comment: “There’s no harm in a daily newspaper, provided you don’t read it.”

He also forwarded a famous Mark Twain thought: “If you don’t read newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read them, you are misinformed.”

Now many quotes attributed to Twain were probably said by someone else but attributed to him rather than the original speaker. So, the following was something he may or may not have said: “The researches of many commentators have already thrown much darkness on this subject, and it is probable that, if they continue, we shall soon know nothing at all about it.”

….and in a preview of the next blog post: a remarkable book, Slavery, Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution by Maxime Berg and Pat Hudson has been recently published which conclusively demonstrates that Eric Williams was right in his 1944 book Capitalism and Slavery and that questions about similar connections continue today.

…and if you don’t find anything wrong with the News’ report you are probably on social media too often.